There was a time in my youth when I wanted to be an astronaut. I really had little idea of what it took to become an astronaut, what one really did as an astronaut, or what life was like as an astronaut. I just knew it appealed to something deep inside of me, and my emotional self wanted to be an astronaut.
A little later in my youth, after I got my hockey skates, stick, and a puck, I knew I wanted to be a NHL hockey player. Skating around in my “Walter Mitty” world, I was sure I had what it took to skate down the ice and score the winning goal in the Stanley Cup finals.
Then there was our little garage band. Alternately playing music and just making loud noise from the garage, (where we were banished), I knew there was a big recording contract in our future. We all felt we sounded great, and were just waiting to be discovered.
Alas, I never did become an astronaut, professional hockey player or a famous musician and singer in a rock and roll band. It certainly was not due to a lack of desire or emotional “wanna be”. In my mind I was ready to be an astronaut, hockey star, and rock and roll icon. My poor eyesight ruled out the prospect of becoming a military pilot, an almost necessity to become an astronaut. Likewise, I just didn’t quite have the skills and talents to become a hockey star, (small and slow), and my short fat fingers and not so melodious voice shot down the rock and roll star aspirations. My body, and my brain conspired against me to relegate these aspirations and dreams into the realm of the impossible.
Fortunately, in each case, there was somebody who had a better grasp on reality than I did in my emotional “wanna be” state, who had the courage, if not the responsibility, to tell me that I just wasn’t cut out to be an astronaut, hockey star, or rock and roll icon. It was good to find that out sooner than later, so I could get on with my life, and not waste precious time in a futile pursuit of an emotional and physical impossibility.
Dear Transgender persons: Your emotions may be telling you the same things that my emotions were telling me in my younger life. It feels so right for you. But check your body and brain. Unfortunately in this politically correct era, nobody has the courage to tell you that your emotions are not supported by reality. Just because I buy a space helmet, hockey stick, and Fender Stratocaster guitar, I’m not really an astronaut, hockey star, or rock and roll icon. Just because you feel like you have been the wrong sex/gender, doesn’t make your emotions or feelings reliable. Aspects of the male and female anatomy are different. Development of their brains are different. Changing my name to Wayne Gretzky or Eric Clapton won’t make me a hockey star or great guitarist. Changing your name or the box you check labelled M or F won’t make your sex different. Your brain has developed differently based upon your birth sex/gender, and all the emotional “wanna be” in the world won’t change that. Fetal testosterone during brain development causes well defined neurological differences between the “Male” and “female” brains. Check it out on line. There are lots of studies that show distinct differences. It is a biological fact. Fetal testosterone, and again testosterone in puberty causes “brain damage”, destroying right-left brain connections. Modern medicine can do a lot to alter physical characteristics, but spending time and money to change that won’t alter neurophysics or reality.
Yes, there are a few astronauts, hockey stars, and guitar greats. But is that you? Likely not. What does a fMRI of your brain tell you? Likely it will tell you the same thing that a military recruiter, hockey coach, and some qualified music teachers told me: that there was a disconnect between my emotions and reality.
http://www.jneurosci.org/content/34/46/15466
Please check out my other “transgender” post.
Lost in the Fog 